Alan Shearer hits nail on the head with brilliant Match of the Day message to Gareth Southgate

Alan Shearer has urged Gareth Southgate to take a serious look at the English players at Newcastle United's side.

Instead of 'picking players who are not playing' or 'not performing', he's told the Three Lions boss to get himself to St James' Park more often during his appearance on Match of the Day 2 last night.

Dan Burn has been rock-solid for most of the season, but it's the likes of Joe Willock and Sean Longstaff who must be coming into the conversation now. Willock has gone from strength to strength in recent months, with his energy, pace, ball-carrying ability and goal threat evident once again in yesterday's 2-0 win.

Longstaff is also becoming an unsung hero under Eddie Howe, covering every blade of grass, improving on the ball and shielding our defence superbly as we kept our 13th clean sheet of the season against Man Utd.

Six of our starters on Sunday were English and three others came on from the bench, so it's about time Southgate took a closer look. After all, we're third in the table and full of ever-improving players benefiting from Howe's coaching methods.

Here's what Shearer had to say on MOTD2: